Kashmiri MBBS student goes missing in Odisha; cops to probe terror links as suspicious letter found

BHUBANESWAR: A 23-year-old Kashmiri student has gone missing from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar since February 9. 

Suhail Aijaz Kataria hails from north Kashmir's Kupwara district. He was pursuing MBBS at AIIMS from 2016.

On February 6, Suhail gave a call to his father asking him for money. A day after this, his father, Aijaz Ahmad Kataria had deposited the amount to his bank account on February 7.

"Our contact with him snapped from February 9. We initially thought he was busy with his studies and hence was unable to talk frequently. However, on getting no news of him till February 20, we left for Bhubaneswar sensing something wrong," said Aijaz.

However, as per Suhail's bank statement, there was no withdrawal of money.

One of Suhail's friends said, "He had been telling us since a month he is going for his cousin's wedding and left on February 9. He said he will be back by February 16 or 17. When he did not come back, I called up his home and got to know there is no wedding. He had three to four phone numbers but all of them are switched off."

The last location of Suhail that could be traced through the mobile was Kolkata, said police.

On Monday, a police team will leave for Kolkata in suspicion of Suhail's any link with Bangladesh Jehadi outfits because a letter has been found from his room with many suspicious words and he had written that 'I quit'.

Director General of Police (DGP), Odisha, Rajendra Prasad Sharma said, "He also asked his friends to forgive him and wrote he had much more work to do in the world. He was depressed as he failed in some subject. We are in touch with the Kolkata police to trace him and find the possible reasons of his disappearance. One of our teams will go to Kolkata tomorrow."

Police have, meanwhile, registered a missing report.

(With ANI inputs)